Canadiens: Out Of The Mix?

The Montreal Canadiens' brass wanted the young Canadiens to play some meaningful hockey in January and they did, but the latest skid took them right out of the mix.

Thanks to a fantastic sequence from the end of December through January 21, the Montreal Canadiens had gotten themselves right in the mix for the playoffs, but their five-game skid took them right out of it again. 

Not so long ago, when the Habs seemed destined to battle for a playoffs spot, I thought Kent Hughes wouldn't be a seller at the deadline, but now I'm not so sure. The Canadiens are now five points out of the second wild card spot, and the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are in the second wild card spot, have a game in hand. Needless to say, the upcoming duel between the two teams on Sunday will be of pivotal importance. 

The Canadiens now only have eight games to play before the trade deadline and while it would have been hard for Hughes to trade away big pieces with his team in the playoffs picture, its losing streak has changed the situation. 

The GM finds himself with five pending UFAs in his lineup (Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak, Michael Pezzetta and David Savard) and while he wouldn't have hesitated to pull the trigger on deals a couple of years back, some of these players are actually playing important roles with the team. 

With 29 games left to the season, Joel Armia is on pace for 37 points, which would be a career year for him and he's proven just how useful he can be on the penalty kill. At 31 years old, he's getting a bit long in the tooth for a hockey player and a short time extension could make sense, if he's willing to take a pay cut. 

As for Jake Evans, he's cooled down after a scorching hot start to the season, he's only three points away from setting a new career high in points and is almost vital to the Canadiens' penalty kill on top of scoring when it counts. He leads the team (with captain Nick Suzuki) in game-winning goals with five. He has plenty of arguments to earn himself a pay rise. The fact he slowed down a bit of late might have made him more affordable however and this could be key in an extension negotiation. 

Dvorak and Pezzetta are expendable, but I doubt there will be too many suiters for them. Although the former does lead the team's center line in faceoff percentage with a 56.9% success rate, which could be interesting for a team looking for depth up front. 

As for David Savard, he's still useful and even more so now that Kaiden Guhle is out for what could be a lengthy period of time, but time waits for no man and at the start of next season, he will be 35 years old. He doesn't play a role as crucial as he did last season and if Hughes can find a good return, he should take it. 

Unless the Habs go on another miraculous run, fans should expect some departures at the trade deadline since the GM won't have to worry about hurting the team's morale since they've taken themselves out of the mix already. 

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